Saudi Arabia sends back 160 Bangladeshi workers in crackdown on violaters

As many as 160 Bangladeshi workers have returned home on Tuesday night from Saudi Arabia amid a crackdown on undocumented workers there.

A flight of Saudi Airlines carrying the Bangladeshi workers landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 11:20 pm on Tuesday, Dhaka Tribune quoted program head of Brac Migration Program, Shariful Hasan, as saying.

He added that the workers complained that they were forced to return to Bangladesh despite having valid documents.

"Saudi Arabia has sent back 389 workers in the last three days," Hasan said.

Necessary assistance, including food, was provided to the Bangladeshi workers by the authorities concerned of Wage Earners' Welfare Board under the Brac Migration Program.

Many of the workers also accused the Bangladesh Embassy in Saudi Arabia for doing nothing to stop the deportation.

According to a report of the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Saudi authorities have arrested around 3.8 million foreigners as it continues its crackdown on labour and residency violators.

Since November 2017, Saudi Arabia has been detaining people for violating residential, labour and border security regulations.

According to the SPA report, a total of 3,790,173 people have been arrested, including over 2.95 million for residency violations, 583,602 for breaking labour laws and 247,220 for flouting border regulations.

As per the latest figures, 544,521 people have been arrested since early June and as many as 940,100 expatriates have been deported since November 2017.